Anti-Pawar men shortlisted for MPCC

NEW DELHI: As relations between the Congress and the NCP sour in Maharashtra, the AICC has begun the process of selecting a new PCC chief to replace the incumbent, Prabha Rau, who is being accused by a large section of the state party leaders of failing to protect the party interests vis a vis its alliance partner.

The leadership is now looking for a new leader who could reinforce the state Congress’s political priorities — to be effective in the state Congress’ not-so-subtle battle for supremacy between the NCP as well to inflict further poaching on the faction-ridden Shiv Sena.

Among those who have been shortlisted for the job is the veteran leader and eight-time Lok Sabha memeber, Balasaheb Vikhe Patil and member of the state Assembly Shivaji Rao Moghe. These two leaders have now found major supporters among the central and state party leaders even as AICC general secretary, Mukul Wasnik’s name has been under consideration for the post for quite some time.

The process of shortlisting the probable candidates has begun after the leadership sent out a clear signal that Ms Rau could be on her way out after the recent Rajya Sabha poll fiasco in which the NCP, along with BJP and Shiv Sena, got Rahul Bajaj to defeat the Congress nominee.

According to sources, Ms Rau was given an indication of the leadership’s unhappiness about her style of functioning when she met Ms Sonia Gandhi here recently.

The sudden emergence of Mr Vikhe Patil, despite his advancing age,in the list is significant as this veteran leader is known to be a bitter critic of Mr Sharad Pawar, a fact that even prompted him to briefly join the Shiv Sena.

A Maratha, Mr Patil’s name is being proposed by an influential section of both the AICC and PCC by citing his influence and acceptability among the “traditional Congressmen” in the state that “includes many leaders of the NCP”.

The move also comes in the wake of the reports of growing rumblings within the NCP with many leaders reportedly unhappy about Mr Pawar’s style of occasional anti-Congress collaborations with the BJP-Shiv Sena combine, which some his partymen reportedly resent as “ideological compromises”.

Mr Shivaji Rau Moghe,a tribal leader, is also known for his antipathy towards the NCP chief. Both Mr Patil and Mr Moghe, also fit into the AICC thinking of doing a balancing act on the organisation front as both belong to camp opposed to the chief minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh.

Though this was a criteria that saw the appointment of Ms Rau as well, she is now being blamed by the party men of becoming moving too close to the neo Congress leaders like Narayan Rane and Sanjay Nirupam at the expense of traditional Congress leaders.

The search for a more aggressive PCC chief comes in the wake of the Congress-Pawar relation further souring over the agriculture minister’s handling of the inflationary pressure.

While it is well known that a section of the senior minister at the Centre defer with Mr Pawar over the anti-inflationary policy initiatives, the recent CWC meeting also witnessed many senior Congress leaders taking pot-shots at the agriculture ministry’s handling of the price rise.

Like Ms Rau, the move is also on to divest AICC general secretary, Margaret Alva of her Maharashtra charge.